Maurice Wood was born on 6 July 1933 in Nottingham. He was a right-hand bat and right-arm medium pace bowler who made five appearances for Notts Seconds in 1954 including taking 4-51 v Derbyshire at Derby. The Notts Annual of 1955 stated that “Wood was most keen on the few occasions that he played and certainly puts plenty of spirit into his fast-medium bowling”.
After two further appearances for the Seconds in 1955 he made his First-Class debut v Surrey at Trent Bridge in May. He had a spectacular start, opening the bowling and having figures of 2-4 at one stage, including clean bowling Peter May; his final figures of 2-68 turned out to be the best of short career. He played in the next two championship games without any real success and returned to the Second team. His final First-Class appearance was versus Lancashire at Trent Bridge in July 1955. The Notts Annual for 1956 said “Wood had his moments but at times his accuracy left much to be desired”. In four First-Class games he had scored 5 runs @1.66 and taken four wickets @57.75.
Maurice Wood died, aged just 44, on 18 March 1978 in Nottingham.
April 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 404